Fridays, 3:00 AM ET on Amazon

60 minutes

A glimpse into an alternate history of North America: what life after WWII may have been like if the Nazis had won the war. The Man in the High Castle explores daily life in 1962, fourteen years after the end of a longer Second World War (1939–1948 in this history). The victorious Axis Powers - Imperial Japan, Fascist Italy, and Nazi Germany - are conducting intrigues against each other in North America, specifically in the former U.S., which surrendered to them once they had conquered Eurasia and destroyed the populaces of Africa.

Success!

You have submitted a report for that review.

The man in the high castle is a sophisticated alternative history thriller which is loosely based on Philip K. Dick's novel of the same name, it takes a look at what the world might have been like had the outcome of World War 2 turned out differently. If you don’t know who Philip K. Dick is, think of many of the more intelligent science fiction movies you’ve seen since 1982. Yes, “Bladerunner” was loosely based on a Philip K. Dick story. 15 movie and TV adaptations have been made from his books. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_adaptations_of_works_by_Philip_K._Dick
The man in the high castle is a complex dark series, and not for people who don’t have at least an intermediate understanding of 20th century history. The acting and the production design was excellent. The screenplay was updated a bit from the PK Dick story, but I think it’s actually better than the book. Some viewers might find the atmosphere of this series a bit dark, I did when I binge watched several episodes on one of my days off. Suspending ones disbelief into a show set in a United States which is occupied by goose stepping Nazi’s and the Imperial Japanese Empire can get a little heavy after 10 episodes. But, it’s nothing against the show, it’s doing its job making us realize that for all the ugliness in the world even in the horrible premise of the series, kindness and love can endure. I paced my viewing of “The man in the high castle” and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Reviews by this user

The Pilot was a bit slow, until Zorn gave his son the animated giant killer Eagle as his new ride. (Which was awesome, wish I had one). I think this show could work well if the writers play on the 80s animated series jokes alla Harvey Birdman. There’s a lot of comedy gold that can be gleaned from the likes of The Masters of the Universe and Thundercats. Wait and See?

I recently watched 13 episodes of Iron Fist, which is endorsement enough for this show, Finn Jones plays Danny Rand who is also the legendary Iron Fist, a martial arts expert with the ability to call upon the power of the Iron Fist. Which also glows when activated! Useful, I guess for finding the enemy in the dark. His girlfriend in the show is Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing, I can’t tell for sure if her character is a Japanese or a Chinese New Yorker, certainly her characters surname seems to be Chinese. Also, there is the hodgepodge Martial Arts style she seems to teach. I’ve been doing Martial Arts since I was a kid, and most of the technique and explanations thereof in this show, are what I’d term as Bullshido.
This series is based on a comic book, so I guess I don’t have the right to feel too peeved that it gives us a grab bag of just about every Martial Arts clichéd there is, mixes Japanese, Chinese, Tibetan cultural stereotypes in an unsophisticated stew and asks us to swallow it. Well, maybe we would have in the 70s or 80s when no one really knew that much about Asian fighting styles. It’s just a comic book adaptation right? So, why did I feel so uncomfortable when the Colleen Wing character beat up a bunch of guys in a few cage matches? Maybe it was the way it was represented that made me feel disrespected, the practice of Mixed Martial Arts is hard and stepping into that cage takes courage. A show based on a comic should not propagate the notion that traditional chop suey is a match for any MMA fighter. Did Fred Ettish bleed for nothing way back in UFC 2, in 1994?
So, Iron Fist the show disrespects Martial Arts, and Asian culture, by being clichéd and propagating Bullshido. But that is just to a Martial Arts tragic like myself, it is a reasonably entertaining series, but a bit more care in the writing and a bit of research could have made this show a lot better.